Following an uncharacteristic 1-9 season, changes needed to be made in order for the Snow Hill football program to return to its past success.

There have been some big ones, but none more important than where the Eagles will be playing a share of their home games for the foreseeable future. Snow Hill will call Sea Gull Stadium on the campus of Salisbury University home starting this season.

The move was due to the extensive renovations ongoing at the high school. The first phase of the $50 million project began in February, leading many of the outdoor sports teams to move their games and practices to John Walter Smith Park.

"I think there will be some excitement playing at Salisbury University," said Todd Lampman, Snow Hill athletic director and assistant football coach. "They've got a great stadium, a great facility, they've got a great program and (Sea Gulls football) coach (Sherman) Wood has it going in the right direction. A lot of our football kids played baseball, so they are used to having to travel to go to practice and having to travel to go to games. I don't think that it's going to be much of a distraction for the kids, but it means for us, we'll have to be more organized. We'll need to have our stuff with us, we'll have to have our plan in place and have everything we need right there in practice."

The Eagles playing their games at SU is also fitting because they will see Sea Gull Stadium change during their time there as later this winter, the stadium undergoes a $19 million upgrade.

With Snow Hill playing with the backdrop of a college campus on many Friday nights, it's expected that the players and coaches will find themselves a little more focused.

"I just think the atmosphere itself will be on a higher level because of the venue and what you're surrounded by, and the potential of where you can go and their next step for football," said Snow Hill head coach D.J. Draus, now in his second year. "I have a great coaching staff who's always on their Ps and Qs and who are very organized, and they've done a great job so far. I have all the faith in the world in them. I think we'll be fine."

Senior running back Ian Smith said playing at Salisbury will most likely light a fire under his teammates knowing they could have a chance to impress potential college coaches.

"It's a great opportunity to be able to experience what it's like to play in a college stadium," he said. "I'm excited personally because I love football and hopefully some of the coaches will be out there to watch us play. It helps get us out there and helps get us recognized, have fun and be out there to get Ws. We probably won't have as many home fans as we did last year, but it's going to be completely different. It's not going to be like a regular home environment, it's going to be more intense. We're all going to adjust to it and it's just going to have to be a group effort that we all have to do."

As for last season's record, the Eagles are ready to put those events behind them as they have increased their numbers. They will come in handy as Snow Hill replaces its quarterback and wide receivers from last season. Draus wants to temper expectations and wants to focus on continual improvement.

Buy Photo

(Photo: Justin Odendhal, Justin Odendhal photo)

"We actually have a really young team this year and they are fighting to be that guy," he said. "So it'll be just hard work for everybody. The goal is just get better today. We aren't thinking about next week and we're not thinking about the first game. We're thinking about how we'll get better from yesterday."